M. James Stock

Books

• Ephemeral Archives and Dead Media: The Lives and Afterlives of Horror Film Websites, (University Press of Mississippi, 2026), (under contract). Rear-Projection: In/Visible Effects in the Analog Era, (in progress)

Refereed Journal Articles

• “‘What’s in the Windshield’: Rear-Projection and Automobility,” Journal of Cinema and Media Studies [JCMS],Volume 64, Issue 1 (Fall 2024): 141-168.
• “Ephemeral Archives of the Vanishing Present: The Hauntological and The Uncanny in The Blair Witch ProjectWebsite,” New Review of Film and Television Studies, Volume 24, Issue 2 (Summer 2026), (forthcoming).
• “Pandemic Modes of Automobility: Navigating Health, Safety, and Entertainment in Quarantimes,” Wide Screen, Vol. 9, No. 1 (2022). https://widescreenjournal.org/vol-9-no-1-2022-title/
• “The Nest in the Shell: Phenomenology, Postwar Automobility, and Film Noir Cars,” Mediapolis: A Journal of Cities and Cultures, Vol. 8, No. 3 (September 2023). https://www.mediapolisjournal.com/archive/vol-8-№-3/
• “The Ruins of Home, Hearth, Kingdom, and Man in Breaking Bad: Ruins, Ruination, and Ruin Porn in ‘The ABQ,” Digital Culture and Society Volume 10, Issue 1 (2025), (forthcoming).
• “Trashing the Corpse aka The Net and Gross Value of the Living Dead: Romero, Zizek, Lacan,” The Spectator, Volume 26 No. 2, (Fall 2006), 70-80.

Book Chapters

• “Seeing by Automobility: Protoautomobility, Immersion, the Traveler-Spectator, and the Phantom Ride, 1897-1912,” in States of Immersion: Bodies, Media Technologies, Ed. Philippe Bédard (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2025), 199-218.
• “Pain Index, Plain Suffering, and Blood Measure: A Victimology of the Driving Safety Gore Film in Mid-Century America,” in Reimagining the Victim in Post-1970s Horror Media, Ed. Madelon Hoedt and Marko Lukic (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2024): 171-190.
• “Body Horror Behind the Wheel: Mapping the Aesthetics of the Driving Safety Gore Film in Horror,” in Horror and Philosophy: Essays on Their Intersection in Film, Television and Literature, Ed. Fernando Gabriel Pagnoni Berns and Subashish Bhattacharjee (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company Press, 2024): 250-266.
• “Eco-Horror and Ruined Landscapes in the Early Films of Wes Craven,” in A Critical Companion to Wes Craven, Ed. Fernando Gabriel Pagnoni Berns and John Darowski (New York: Lexington Books, 2023): 59-72.
• “The Spectacle of Society, the Society of Failure, and the Authentication of Punk; Or, Elvis is Dead,” in Punk Rock and Philosophy, Ed. Josh Heter and Richard Greene (Chicago: Carus Books, 2022): 19-28.
• “Taking Aim on the Driving Dead: Peter Bogdanovich’s Targets, Gun Control, and the Vulnerability of Automobility,” in Screening Controversy, Ed. Mark McKenna (London: Routledge, 2025), (forthcoming).
• “Rear-Projection,” The Audiovisual Lexicon, Vincent Longo and Matthew Solomon, eds., (Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2026), (forthcoming).

Conference Presentations

• “Rear-Screen Reinvention: The Unexpected Return of Rear-Projection (and Expressionism) in the 1990s,” Society for Cinema & Media Studies Annual Conference. Chicago, IL (April 2025.)
• “On Screen and Behind the Wheel: Automobility and Rear-Screen Projection in Classic Hollywood Cinema,” Society for Cinema & Media Studies Annual Conference. Boston, MA. (March 2024.)
• Panel Chair, “Rethinking Techniques of Film Analysis,” Society for Cinema & Media Studies Annual Conference.Boston, MA. (March 2024.)
• “Ruined Landscapes and Eco-Horror in the Early Films of Wes Craven,” Southwest Popular and American Culture Association 45th Annual Conference. Albuquerque, NM. (February 2024.)
• Horror Roundtable: “Watching Horror on Blu-rays and DVDs—Why Physical Media (and Supplemental Materials) Still Matter,” Southwest Popular and American Culture Association 45th Annual Conference. Albuquerque, NM. (February 2024.)
• “Dead Media, Ephemeral Archives, Transitory Transmedia: The Blair Witch Project Website, Hauntology, and the Digital Uncanny,” Society for Cinema & Media Studies Annual Conference. Denver, CO. (April 2023.)
• “From Red Asphalt to Highways of Agony: Mapping the Roots of Body Horror in Driving Safety Films of the 1950s and 1960s,” Southwest Popular and American Culture Association 44th Annual Conference. Albuquerque, NM. (February 2023.)
• Apocalypse, Dystopia, and Disaster Roundtable: “Teaching and the Apocalypse,” Southwest Popular and American Culture Association 44th Annual Conference. Albuquerque, NM. (February 2023.) 
• “Pain Index, Plain Suffering, and Blood Measure: Locating the Driving Safety Gore Film in Horror.” Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association Annual Conference. Los Angeles, CA. (November 2022.)
• “Hauntings from a Green Place: Iterations of the EcoGothic in the Igbo Landing Tale in the Films of Ngozi Onwurah, Julie Dash and Beyoncé,” Society for Cinema & Media Studies Annual Conference. Online. (March 2022.)
• “The Ruins of Home, Hearth, Kingdom, and Man in Breaking Bad: Ruins, Ruination, and Ruin Porn in Vince Gilligan’s Vision of ‘The ABQ,’” Southwest Popular and American Culture Association 43rd Annual Conference. Albuquerque, NM. (February 2022.)
• “The Birth of a Mobile Cinema: Protoautomobility and the Phantom Ride, 1897-1906,” XXVIII International Film and Media Studies Conference: “And Yet It Moves! On Cinema, Media, and Mobility,” Udine, Italy. Hybrid. (November 2021.)
• “Haunting the Layers: A Spectrology of the Cyberpunk City in Anime: From Angel’s Egg to Ghost in the Shell(And Back Again).” Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association Annual Conference. Las Vegas, Nevada. (November 2021.)
• “The Starkweather Cycle: Constructing the Celebrity Killer Couple in 1950s Nebraska, the Badlands and Beyond…” Society for Cinema & Media Studies Annual Conference. Online. (March 2021.)
• “The Spectacle of Society, the Society of Failure: Failure and the Authentication of Punk.” Society for Cinema & Media Studies Annual Conference. Los Angeles, California. (March 2010.)

Invited Talks

• Entry on “Rear-Projection” in The Audiovisual Lexicon for Media Analysis, eds. Vincent Longo and Matthew Solomon. Digital video. (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan LSA Technology Services, 2024).
• “The History of Cyberpunk: Shaping Our Present/Future.” University of Nebraska, Lincoln. (April 2022) 
• “A Brief History of Animation Innovation.” University of Nebraska, Lincoln. (April 2022)
• “William Friedkin: An Analysis of Film and Beyond.” Digital video. SCI-Arc Channel. Los Angeles, California. (2020) https://youtu.be/D7cjvf2ZJG0
• “Stanley Kubrick: Behind the Scenes with Jan Harlan and Michael Stock.” Digital video. SCI-Arc Channel. Los Angeles, California. (2017) https://youtu.be/wcEPIA--mUo

Campus Talks

• “Lunar Devotional.” Pepperdine University. Malibu, California. (February 2024)
• “Introduction to Teaching Cyberpunk and Post-Humanity.” Campus talk. Pepperdine University. Malibu, California. (January 2022)
• Interview with Oscar-winning production designer Jeannine Oppewall, SCI-Arc Cinema Series screening of Pleasantville (Gary Ross, 1998). Co-presented by LACMA [Los Angeles County Museum of Art]. Los Angeles, California. (March 2020)
• Interview with director Richard Kelly and star James Duval. SCI-Arc Cinema Series screening of Donnie Darko(Richard Kelly, 2001). Co-presented by LACMA. Los Angeles, California. (February 2020) 
• Interview with director James Ward Byrkit. SCI-Arc Cinema Series screening of Coherence (James Ward Byrkit, 2013). Co-presented by LACMA. Los Angeles, California. (November 2019)
• Interview with Timothy Morton. SCI-Arc Cinema Series screening of Living in the Future’s Past (Susan Kucera, 2018). Co-presented by LACMA. Los Angeles, California. (October 2019)
• Interview with director William Friedkin. SCI-Arc Cinema Series screening of To Live and Die in L.A. (William Friedkin, 1985). Co-presented by LACMA. Los Angeles, California. (April 2019)
• Interview with director Penelope Spheeris. SCI-Arc Cinema Series screening of Decline of Western Civilization, Part III (Penelope Spheeris, 1998). Co-presented by LACMA. Los Angeles, California. (March 2019)
• Interview with production designer Jeannine Oppewall. SCI-Arc Cinema Series screening of L.A. Confidential(Curtis Hansen, 1997). Co-presented by LACMA. Los Angeles, California. (February 2019)
• Interview with director Allison Anders. SCI-Arc Cinema Series screening of Mi Vida Loca (Allison Anders, 1983). Los Angeles, California. (December 2018)
• Interview with production designer Patti Podesta. SCI-Arc Cinema Series screening of Memento (Christopher Nolan, 2000). Los Angeles, California. (November 2018)
• Presented and introduced SCI-Arc Cinema Series screening of Grave of the Fireflies (Isao Takahata, 1988). Los Angeles, California. (October 2018)
• Interview with Patti Podesta. SCI-Arc Cinema Series screening of Nowhere (Gregg Araki, 1997). Los Angeles, California. (April 2018)
• Presented and introduced SCI-Arc Cinema Series screening of Avatar (James Cameron, 2009). With special guest production designer Rick Carter. Los Angeles, California. (February 2018)
• Presented and introduced SCI-Arc Cinema Series screening of Aliens (James Cameron, 1986). With special guest visual futurist and production designer Syd Mead,. Los Angeles, California. (December 2017)
• “Discussing the Intersections of Music, Memory, Architecture and David Bowie.” Master Class Interview with Philosopher Simon Critchley. SCI-Arc, Los Angeles, California. (November 2017) 
• Interview with director P.J. Letovsky. SCI-Arc Cinema Series screening of Solaris (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1972). Los Angeles, California. (November 2017)
• “The Modern Filmmaker, the Music, the Short and Our Inner Fantasy,” Master Class co-taught with Jan Harlan, Executive Producer for Stanley Kubrick, on Film History, Film Production, Film Sound and Film Soundtracks. SCI-Arc, Los Angeles, California. (October 2017)
• Interview with Jan Harlan. SCI-Arc Cinema Series screening of The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980). Los Angeles, California. (October 2017)
• “Punk Film and Punk Failure,” Faculty Talk. Moderated by Tim Ivision. SCI-Arc, Los Angeles, California. (March 2017)
• Interview with director James Spooner. SCI-Arc screening of Afro-Punk (James Spooner, 2003). Los Angeles, California. (February 2017)